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Favorite Lyrics?

firestarter

firestarter

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2002
5,506
227
Green and pleasant land
From Marillion's 'Fugazi'

Vivid imagery and fantastic dual use of words. Clever stuff from Fish...

Drowning in the liquid seize on the Piccadilly line, rat race
Scuttling through the damp electric labyrinth
Caress Ophelia's hand with breathstroke ambition
An albatross in the marrytime tradition
Sheathed within the Walkman wear the halo of distortion
Aural contraceptive aborting pregnant conversation
She turned the harpoon and it pierced my heart
She hung herself around my neck

From the Time-Life-Guardians in their conscience bubbles
Safe and dry in my sea of troubles
Nine to five with suitable ties
Cast adrift as their side-show, peepshow, stereo hero
Becalm bestill, bewitch, drowning in the real

(1:18 in)

 
Surely

Surely

Guest
Oct 27, 2007
15,042
11
Los Angeles, CA
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you

-Bob Dylan, Positively 4th Street
 
Hastings101

Hastings101

macrumors 68020
Jun 22, 2010
2,338
1,446
K
Divinyls - I Touch Myself

Sure, it's not something like "Imagine" but I think a lot of music takes itself too seriously. This song's lyrics are my favorite because they're fun and manage to avoid being completely trashy despite the subject. I also like the switch from subtlety to bluntness that occurs when the chorus pops up, makes it much more entertaining.



I love myself I want you to love me
When I feel down I want you above me
I search myself I want you to find me
I forget myself I want you to remind me

I don't want anybody else
When I think about you I touch myself
Ooh I don't want anybody else Oh no, oh no, oh no

You're the one who makes me come runnin'
You're the sun who makes me shine
When you're around I'm always laughin'
I want to make you mine

I close my eyes and see you before me
Think I would die if you were to ignore me
A fool could see just how much I adore you
I'd get down on my knees I'd do anything for you

I don't want anybody else
When I think about you I touch myself
Ooh I don't want anybody else
Oh no, oh no, oh no

etc etc etc
Click to expand...
 
iBlue

iBlue

macrumors Core
Mar 17, 2005
19,180
15
London, England
So many that I put various favourite lyrics into my signature. I change them probably once a week now but I started out changing them a lot more regularly. I've been doing this for years.

One that comes to mind right now is the elegant simplicity of the only words in the song Hayling:

"Don't think about all those things you fear. Just be glad to be here."​
 
Face Ache

Face Ache

macrumors regular
Aug 3, 2011
177
138
Oz
For fun lyrics, MC 900ft Jesus' "If I Only Had a Brain" starts with:

"Suppose I accidentally got my **** together."
Click to expand...
:D

Thomas Dolby's "Key To Her Ferrari" is fun too:

There was one room in her house that was always kept locked.

It was the garage.

I don't want your love
don't want your money
I just want the key to your Ferrari
don't want your bed
don't want your body
I said all I want is the key to your Ferrari
I'm gonna rev it - shake it - brake it
skid it - squeal it - stick it
drop it - hop it - rip it
up and down the 101
don't want your love
don't want your money, girl
I said all I want is the key to your Ferrari.

And then I saw her...
she was a bright red '64 GTO with fins
and gills like some giant piranha fish,
some obscene phallic symbol on wheels...
little rivers of anticipation ran down my inseam
as I kicked those five hundred Italian horses into life
and left reality behind me:
fifty, sixty, seventy miles an hour...
my hand slipped inside the belt of my trousers
as we hit eighty, ninety miles an hour...
and as we passed the magic 100 my love exploded
all over her bright pink leather interior...

And at that moment, I thought of my mother.

...
Click to expand...

:D

For deep, Paul Kelly's "Deeper Water" is the Mariana Trench of lyrics.
 
O

oscillatewildly

macrumors 68000
Jul 17, 2007
1,808
56
23 Railway Cuttings
Off the top,

The Go-Betweens, Right Here:

I know you're 32 but you look 55.

The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead:

and the church - all they want is your money.

Pulp, Mis-Shapes:

Check your lucky numbers, that much money could drag you under, oh. What's the point of being rich, if you can't think what to do with it? 'Cause you're so bleeding thick.

And of course, the lists in songs by The B-52's.:)

Cheers,
OW
 
S

Samskeyti

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 7, 2012
68
0
What about narrowing it down to single lines that you favor?

Example...

"All lies and jest, still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest" (Simon & Garfunkel)

Or like the first line I posted

"Somehow you've red-rovered the gestapo circling my heart."
(Red-rovered refers to the childhood game "Red Rover", you know, the linking hands together and having one person try to break that link. That's the reference, breaking the link = red-rovered. Gestapo = police of Nazi Germany. Obviously the gestapo circling his heart is a symbolization of his oppressive, aggressive behavior, one which rejects relationships and allowing people of the opposite sex to reach his heart.)

The lines will be seen out of context, so an explanation would help out.
 
firestarter

firestarter

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2002
5,506
227
Green and pleasant land
oscillatewildly said:
The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead:

and the church - all they want is your money.
Click to expand...

Well, thank goodness we had some Smiths in there. With a name like Oscillatewildly it would have been criminal to miss them out!

I found the Smiths deeply irritating in my youth (when they were in the charts) and only really started to appreciate them 10 years later. Some of their lyrics are amazing!

Stop Me
I was delayed, I was way-laid
An emergency stop
I smelt the last ten seconds of life
I crashed down on the crossbar
And the pain was enough to make
A shy, bald, buddhist reflect
And plan a mass murder
Who said I'd lied to her ?

How Soon Is Now
I am the son
and the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular
 
LostSoul80

LostSoul80

macrumors 68020
Jan 25, 2009
2,136
7
Not all time favorites, but defenitely in my top ones.

Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch des Himmels prächt'gen Plan,
Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.
Click to expand...
 
O

oscillatewildly

macrumors 68000
Jul 17, 2007
1,808
56
23 Railway Cuttings
firestarter,

The story is that 'mass murder' meant the song wasn't released as a single in the UK; the BBC being mindful of Hungerford.

Marr was the pull for me, got used to Morrissey - The Smiths' catalogue includes examples of both pinching/adapting/honouring the work of others.

Cheers,
OW
 
Last edited:
H

Happybunny

macrumors 68000
Sep 9, 2010
1,792
1,389
After reading some of the replies on PRSI.:D

Sweet Neo Con Rolling Stones

You call yourself a Christian
I think that you're a hypocrite
You say you are a patriot
I think that you're a crock of ****

And listen now, the gasoline
I drink it every day
But it's getting very pricey
And who is going to pay

How come you're so wrong
My sweet neo con.... Yeah

It's liberty for all
'Cause democracy's our style
Unless you are against us
Then it's prison without trial

But one thing that is certain
Life is good at Haliburton
If you're really so astute
You should invest at Brown & Root.... Yeah

How come you're so wrong
My sweet neo con
If you turn out right
I'll eat my hat tonight

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah....

It's getting very scary
Yes, I'm frightened out of my wits
There's bombers in my bedroom
Yeah and it's giving me the *****

We must have lots more bases
To protect us from our foes
Who needs these foolish friendships
We're going it alone

How come you're so wrong
My sweet neo con
Where's the money gone
In the Pentagon

Yeah ha ha ha
Yeah, well, well

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Neo con
 
F

FanOfMR

macrumors member
Feb 15, 2012
37
0
Not favorite per say but a good and meaningful one:
UNO by Muse:

"Uno"

This means nothing to me
'Cause you are nothing to me
And it means nothing to me
That you blew this away

'Cause you could have been number one
If you only found the time
And you could have ruled the whole world
If you had the chance

You could have been number one
And you could have ruled the whole world
And we could have had so much fun
But you blew it away

You're still nothing to me
And this is nothing to me
And you don't know what you've done
But I'll give you a clue

You could have been number one
If you only had the chance
And you could have ruled the whole world
If you had the time

You could have been number one
And you could have ruled the whole world
And we could have had so much fun
But you blew it away

You could have been number one
And you could have ruled the whole world
And we could have had so much fun
But you blew it away​
 
Surely

Surely

Guest
Oct 27, 2007
15,042
11
Los Angeles, CA
I always smile when I hear the lyrics (especially the last 4-5 lines) for Someone I Can Be True With by Sloan:


Oh where should I start?
She's sensitive and smart
That's not my favourite part and

Oh you won't forget
The beautiful brunette
With eyes of chocolate

And I don't know what you're used to
But I can't go back I refuse to

Oh and she loves me now
She's trying to show me how
But my mind is never open

I hope it works out well
Some days it can be hell
But it's a hell I have a hope in

And I don't know what that has to do with
She's someone to to hear Husker Du with
And someone to wait in the ques with
And someone to hate all things new with
She's someone to watch Gremlins 2 with
And someone to not watch The View with
And someone to laugh in the pew with
And someone I can be true with

:D
 
flopticalcube

flopticalcube

macrumors G4
Sep 7, 2006
10,456
186
In the velcro closure of America's Hat
The Fugees version of No Woman No Cry

I remember when we used to rock in a project yard in Jersey,
And little Georgie would make the firelight,
As stolen cars passed through the night
And then we'd hit the corner store for Roots, paper, and brew.
My drink's my only remedy
For pain of losing family
 
lewis82

lewis82

macrumors 68000
Aug 26, 2009
1,708
12
Totalitarian Republic of Northlandia
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.

Home
Home again
I like to be here
When I can

When I come home
Cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones
Beside the fire

Far away
Across the field
Tolling on the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell
Click to expand...

The lyrics of Time are pretty great. They are completely universal, and represent exactly what I sometimes feel (And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.).

On a less serious domain, some of Devin Townsend's lyrics are pretty great in the humorous domain. I love how it starts really mellow and poetic, and ends in a completely puerile manner :D (From the song Planet of the Apes)

...
Worlds away, sun it glows...
Hearts fade to grey summer shows...
Worlds away, sun it glows...
Hearts fade to grey summer shows...

Way of ways, and in a way I'm heading toward the sky!
We never will die, we never know why...
Just never hold back now, and I'll be happier still!
Oh! Everybody will know, I am so happy now!
I've got a little boner!
...
Click to expand...
 
R

RightToDream

macrumors newbie
Aug 30, 2012
9
0
Black by Pearl Jam
"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life
I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky
But why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine?"
And their song "Just Breathe(from Backspacer)" also has great lyrics.
 
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